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ACCAN has provided its comment in response to the Communication Alliance's release of the Draft Telecommunications Consumer Protection (TCP) Code.
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Read more: Implementing changes to freephone and local-rate numbers
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After a year of community calls for action, including those made Fair Calls for All superhero, Number Woman, the telecommunications regulator, the Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA), has proposed changes so that 1800 numbers will be free and 13/1300 numbers will cost about 30 cents to call from a mobile phone, just as they currently do from landlines.
Now’s the time to take action! The ACMA wants to hear from interested parties by this Wednesday 30th November. So far we've had over 750 people make a submission, and we've made it easy for you to share your story.
Send a message to the ACMA to say that you want Fair Calls For All. It only takes a minute or two!
Further background on the Fair Calls campaign.
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The improved measures in the draft Mobile Premium Services (MPS) Code are a step in the right direction for consumers but new Code rules are weakened by the Code’s weak approach to compliance monitoring and enforcement.
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Please join us at a special event being held for our members to celebrate the first two years of Australia’s peak consumer body representing communications consumer.
The members’ event will begin immediately after our AGM, commencing at 2pm.
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The telco industry had more than 197,000 new complaints from its customers lodged with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman in the last financial year, representing a 17.8% increase on the previous year’s result and making this the highest number of complaints on record.
The top three issues for consumers were again customer service, complaint handling, and billing and payments.
“The telco industry has scored another ‘F’ this year for customer service and complaint handling for failing to address its customers' problems in a timely manner,” ACCAN Chief Executive Officer Teresa Corbin said today.
Read more: Telco industry scores an ‘F’ on annual complaints scorecard
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Payphones are an important public resource. Further to our submission on the Consumer Safeguard Instruments for payphone repairs, removals and installations, we ask the ACMA to keep rigorous records so we know what kind of problems people are encountering with payphones.
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ACCAN's submission to the Convergence Review highlights three key issues for reform: telecommunications co-regulation - also known as the smurfberry problem; moving from voice-centric to connectivity-centric regulation; and strengthening accessibility standards in broadcasting.
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The Mobile Matters report by project coordinator Leo Fieldgrass details the findings from a year-long youth participatory action research and advocacy program that involved over 100 Melbourne VCAL students. The student researchers documented the challenges faced by them and their peers and made recommendations to industry for changes to better support young consumers.
Students from the Youth Advocates Project by the Brotherhood of St Laurence have a clear message for telcos and regulators: "We want you to understand what it's like to be a young mobile consumer: we don't just use mobiles for mucking about. We use them for jobs and shifts, school, parents, and emergencies".
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This position statement has been issued by peak disability and consumer groups regarding the two proposed mobile emergency services for people who are Deaf, hearing-impaired or with speech impairment or complex communication needs (CCN). We stand together in calling for a simultaneous implementation of bothan SMS emergency service and an emergency service provided via a smartphone application.
Read more: Access for people with disability to emergency calls
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ACCAN says it welcomes the release of a draft revised Telecommunications Consumer Protection (TCP) Code today, giving stakeholders a month to provide feedback as to whether the new rules will improve consumer protections for Australian residential and small business customers.
Read more: New draft rules for telcos released today for public comment
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ACCAN Chief Executive Teresa Corbin and Senior Policy Adviser Jonathan Gadir have given evidence in front of the Joint Committee: National Broadband Network (Rollout of the National Broadband Network) in Sydney this morning. They discussed the need for low-income broadband affordability measures, voice-only services and the demand for consumers for independent information about the NBN.
Earlier this year ACCAN published a NBN: Guide for Consumers, which Corbin says has been very much in demand. ACCAN says it looks forward to the establishment of a Consumer Advisory Panel within NBN Co, to meet quarterly to discuss issues that are of concern to consumers.
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